


Of Greeks and Romans

by MyWhiteKnight



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Greeks and Romans, Head Cannon, real talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 14:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6055815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyWhiteKnight/pseuds/MyWhiteKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazel and Piper find themselves one day in the mess hall, with nothing to do but brood. Instead, they begin to talk. They discover more about each other’s worlds, and what it means to be a Greek or a Roman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Greeks and Romans

The Argo II groaned in protest, settling into it’s nuts and bolts like an old house with timber. While most of the crew chose other places to occupy themselves, Piper found herself watching the enchanted walls of Camp Half Blood. A pang of worry and nostalgia shot through her at the familiar green. Even while the campers prepared for the upcoming war, it still brought a sense of comfort to Piper.

Her moment of silent recollections came to an end when a huffing Hazel came into the room, broody expression upon her face. She settled into a chair and watched for a while, mystified. A small wave of guilt washed over Piper. At least she had the soothing images of home, albeit war torn, to calm her nerves. All the Greeks did, but that left the Romans alone, without any sense of home. 

She shifted, uncomfortable for a moment, before she watched the girl carefully. Normally guarded, Hazel watched with a hint of wonder and whimsy. From what Jason told her, Camp Jupiter wasn’t as ‘homey’ he put it. She thought hospitable, remembering their less than glamorous visit to New Rome. Yeah, definitely a bit intimidating, even if beautiful.

After the time spent at Camp, their classes always carefree, exploits celebrated and revered, she could see how their worlds did not mesh. At all, really, if Piper were being honest with herself. She saw Grover walking through the image, talking to several dryads about something. His emphatic hand motions brought a small smile to her face. She could almost hear his voice, the slight bleating he used when especially nervous or upset, in her mind. In fact, if she could read lips better, she could’ve followed everything -not that she didn’t have any good ideas.

“What is that faun doing?” Hazel’s voice brought Piper back to reality. 

“Talking,” Piper simply stated. “Probably trying to get some information out of them, scouting maybe?”

“Scouting fauns, never thought I’d live to that day,” she snorted, a morbid smirk on her face. “Then again, life is odd.” 

Piper nodded, sagely as she could, silent. She learned that, while Haze was excellent company, she shared a few of her brother’s odd quirks. One of them being the need of silence and self reflection. While not as pronounced as Nico (though, really, she knew of no one so stereotypical emo), Hazel spirited away from the group often enough for Piper’s notice.

“What are they like? Satyrs? Fauns tend to be drunk all the time and beg for more money to fuel their alcoholic needs,” Hazel asked, eyes watching Grover with intense curiosity. 

“Well, they were, for centuries, looking for Pan,” Piper said, a small smile playing on her lips. “Until Grover, the satyr there, found him and said he was gone. Started an environmental crusade amongst the nature spirits, he did.” Hazel snorted once more, wry amusement marked on her face. Piper took that as a good sign and continued. 

“Of course, with the Titan War, he rallied the spirits together, and now with Gaea’s forces and everything else, well, we learned that dryads and nymphs make good spies and scouts. Short of burning a tree down or drying a river up completely, you can’t really stop them or anything,” Piper shrugged, Grover’s face a mix of panic, fear, and amusement.

“I suppose. Just never thought about it. The Legion doesn’t really depend on anyone else, you know?” Hazel responded with a tilt of her head.

“Isn’t that kind of sad, though?” Piper answered without thinking. “I find I really like talking to them, and you can’t deny that Coach Hedge isn’t a personality.”

“That’s true,” the other girl laughed. “He’s a bit too spirited if you ask me, though.” Piper giggled at Hazel’s assessment, and agreed. “What’s it like, though, Camp Half Blood?”

“Percy didn’t tell you?” Piper quirked a brow in response.

“No he didn’t, well, not really. We were kind of busy,” Hazel said, small grin on her face.

“I know the feeling,” Piper nodded. “Well, it’s nice, you know? It’s like a big summer camp for demigods. Sure, we canoe in the lake, make arts and crafts, play capture the flag, but it’s a bit more… deadly. It’s a lot of fun, to be honest.” She shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“I can’t even imagine. I wouldn’t exactly say ‘legion’ and ‘fun’ in the same sentence,” Hazel remarked. “It has it’s moments, though. Namely, when Octavian gets knocked down a peg or two.”

So they talked about bullies at their camps. How pompous some people could be, and what happened to them. Hazel explained how Percy’s raise to Praetor ticked off Octavian. Piper described the fall of her sister from favor and power. Laughter, at least for a little while, echoed through the room, as a frustrated Grover walked out of their walls. 

“Sometimes,” Hazel mused after a moment, “I wish I were Greek. You guys seem so laid-back and easy going. Everything seems so easy.” 

“What do you mean?” Piper asked with a tilt of her head.

“Well,” the daughter of Pluto mused, carefully picking her words. “Growing up in the Legion, everything you do is for New Rome. You learn how to fight as a group, how to be a cog in the machine, how to support each other and stuff. It’s all for some greater good, the community. You rarely do anything for yourself.” She ended with a shrug.

“Really? Do you guys not learn about the powers you have from your godly parents?” Piper asked, mind buzzing.

“Powers? Hardly. Most of us aren’t even direct children of the gods,” Hazel chuckled. “I’m one of the few, really; Frank, too. Take Octavian, though. He’s, like, the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Apollo.”

“I never even realized,” Piper murmured. “Everyone at Camp Half Blood is a direct descendant of some god or the other. I just assumed it was the same for you guys, too.”

“Well, you guys have more contact with Olympus, too. It’s not that surprising,” Hazel shrugged, watching the trees sway in the breeze. “I only met my father a few times before I died. At camp, I never met a god until Percy came.”

“I’ve heard that he has that effect,” Piper smirked before she continued. “I can’t imagine not having the gods and all the different monsters and creatures not a part of life.”

“Isn’t it hectic, though? One of the things I love about Camp Jupiter is the stability. You know what you’re going to get, and you know you can depend on everyone around you,” Hazel mused.

“I would think it’d get boring, though,” Piper answered. “I love it at Camp Half Blood. While the squabbles do get kind of annoying at times, it’s great. It feels magical, like you’re inside a fantasy book or something.” 

Hazel chuckled, and Piper smiled. She settled back into her chair, thinking about what Hazel had told her. The Romans were so focused on war, working as a unit, that it was no wonder that Greece fell. If she was being honest with herself, Piper wouldn’t be surprised if Camp Half Blood fell to Camp Jupiter. Yet, she couldn’t help but wonder, what about themselves as people? As individuals? 

Curious eyes cast a similar glance at her companion. She always spoke about the Legion as a collective group, only pointing out the elected leaders. Yet, Piper never heard any of the Romans talk about individuals, their importance, or achievements. This didn’t sit well with the daughter of Aphrodite. Perhaps her favorite aspect about Camp Half Blood was the individuality. Each person, unique and decidedly different, melded together to create the have she grew to love. At camp, people could go from zero to hero (as Disney to aptly put it) by their own abilities and drive.

“You asked what it’s like to be Greek,” Piper murmured. “It means to be an individual. To live life to the fullest, and make the most of the opportunities that come by. We understand that we are unique, different, and through this, we make a whole society. From what you said, the legion doesn’t place that value on the person, but on the group.”

Hazel watched her for a moment, gaze thoughtful and intense. “That makes sense. Historically, the Romans defined their greatness and accomplishments through war. What battles you won, or those you lost. A bit more of a buzz kill than the Greeks who celebrated almost any and every journey.”

Piper laughed at the apt description. She remembered, one day, the party they had to celebrate cabin four’s successful harvest of sunflower seeds. Of all the things, but they did make awesome sunbutter. Piper highly doubted that Camp Jupiter would acknowledge, let alone celebrate, something as small.

“Life is short,” Piper shrugged, giving voice to her thoughts, “We celebrate what we can, when we can. None of us know if we’ll be alive tomorrow, so we take every opportunity to make the most of life.”

“It sounds lovely,” Hazel remarked, thoughtful expression upon her face.

Together, the two demigods sat in pensive silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Shuffling and voices broke their silence as several others came into the room, babbling and talking about random things. Piper smiled up at them, the wild haired Leo greeting her loudly, while the others grinned back. No matter what, she would never change anything about her. Not even her mother. Even if that made her positively Greek.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've had this head cannon for a while. On the surface, I cannot understand how the fatal flaw, which the original series made such a huge deal out of, could be so easy for Jason to deal with. Giving Uncle Rick the benefit of the doubt (aka; hoping that Rick didn't just do that to make Jason more powerful or some such crap), I decided to look into the respective cultures. 
> 
> Romans are dedicated to war, and thus their units, working as a collective. Greeks are, conversely, individual driven. While yes, what the army does is important, Greeks focus on what the person does, and celebrates that. So, my head cannon is that, while all demigods have fatal, Romans (by virtue of group first mentality) are able to overcome theirs easier than their Greek counter parts (the vice of individual first). 
> 
> I hope this makes sense! I anyone has any questions, feel free to send me a message. I hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
